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The Portland Trail Blazers came out to Philadelphia and perhaps forgot they had a basketball game in the evening, because nobody from the Blazers showed up as they fell to the lowly Philadelphia 76ers, who enjoyed their largest margin of victory all season.
The Blazers began by digging themselves a 7-0 hole against the NBA's worst team. Mikes Barrett and Rice were both imploring that the Blazers not fall behind early, as some teams tend to do against the 76ers, but they didn't listen, and before long it was 11-2 Philadelphia on a bevy of Jahili Okafor post moves. The onslaught continued, and Okafor ended the first quarter with 17 points by himself. Lillard had 9, and there wasn't much production on the rest of the Portland bench as the Blazers stared down a 29-17 hole after one.
The second continued with the Blazers' offense looking... well... more like how you'd expect the 76ers' offense to look. With 8 to go, it was 44-25, CJ McCollum got swatted by Nerlens Noel, and the 76ers hit a three on the other end. It was bleak. Then it got even bleaker. Alley-oops, threes, layins... name it, Philadelphia was hitting it, and and its worst the 76ers' lead was 26. Leading 68-43 at the half, the 76ers had a bigger lead (25) than they had wins over the last two seasons combined (22).
As the 76ers' lead grew to 30+ points in the third, and as Blazers reporter Casey Holdahl was using Twitter to give updates on what Nicki Minaj was doing in her courtside seat (a far sight more entertaining than the game for Blazers fans), all hope drained away like a lake through a cracked dam. It was 90-62 Philadelphia after three as Coach Stotts sought treatment for a lacerated forehead from facepalming too much.
The fourth was no better. Pat Connaughton tied his record for most playing time in a game (6:16). Portland shot 5 of 27 from deep overall. The Philadelphia crowd enjoyed just their fifth win of the year, with far and away their season's largest margin of victory. Blazers lose 114-89. The end.
The Blazers have a bit of time to recover before facing the 19-19 Wizards in Washington on Monday.
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We invite you to help send 2000 underprivileged kids to see the Blazers play the Sacramento Kings on March 28th. Your ticket donations make this possible. You can donate through this link:
http://www.rosequarter.com/blazersedge
Promo Code: BLAZERSEDGE
Ticket Costs range from $7-13 (There is a $5 processing fee per order.)
You can also call our ticket rep, Lisa Swan, directly at 503-963-3966. You will need to indicate to her that you are donating the tickets you order to Blazer's Edge Night.